A Little Trouble
by 13th Key
Summary: Starrk gets mugged. What follows is the conversation with his savior. A tad bit OoC. Enjoy!


Lights blurred above Starrk's eyes, painful flashes of red illuminating the dank alleyway he was laying in. He tried blinking to clear his vision, but it only made the light hurt more. Gingerly, he shielded his eyes. Slowly, he looked around, trying to reorient himself. Currently, he was laying on some garbage in an alley. He had tried to cut through the alley to get to the bar he was scheduled to perform at, Las Noches, however, he had the unfortunate pleasure of having a gun pointed at him. That was where his memory stopped. Starrk winced as he got up. A sharp knocking sounded to his left, towards the street he had been heading toward. In the shadow of the streetlights was a blond-haired woman in boots, ripped jeans, and a dark t-shirt viciously kicking his assualtant who was now laying in the fetal position. After a rather swift kick, she picked them up and threw them down the street. Starrk then proceeded to cautiously walk toward her.

"Thanks for the help back there. I really appreciate it," he said.

"It was nothing," she said, giving a confident smile. As she turned toward him, Starrk had to repress a gasp and took a step back. Tattooed on her face was the number three, extending from her eye to her lips. She rolled her eyes and put on a smug grin. "Oh come on. You go to Las Noches all the time. With how much you perform there, you've got to have known you've been in Espada territory,"

"W-well, I was warned by the owner about the gang, but I never really saw anyone from the Espada before."

"Are you serious?" she asked, raising an incredulous eyebrow. "We're in that bar nearly every night. How have you never noticed us?"

"I guess I'm just too focused on setting up, and playing," he said with a nervous, sheepish smile and took a small step backward.

"What about afterwards?" she asked.

"I-um… usually have to head home right after," he replied.

"Why's that?"

"I've got a little sister to take care of." She nodded in response and walked off a little ways, picking up up Starrk's guitar and the amp he had that was strapped to a small hand truck, and handed them over to him, receiving a nod of thanks. "Thanks for the help and all, but if you don't mind, I'd rather not be involved with anything Espada related."

"It's a bit late for that."

"What do you mean?"

"Your basically a regular at Las Noches. You play there at least three days a week. At the least. Should anything happen to us at Las Noches, you'll likely get caught up in the crossfire."

"What?! Are you kidding me?!"

"'Afraid not. But it's your lucky day."

"... Why's that?"

She started slowly walking towards him. "Because I've decided that I'm basically going to be your guardian angel."

"What?!" exclaimed Starrk, the shock evident on his face. "Why would you decide that?! That is a terrible idea. I just told you I didn't want any involvement in anything the Espada, you included, and now your going to be my guardian angel? I don't even know your name."

"Tia Halibel. Nice to meet you, and I'm doing this because unlike all the other men in my life right now, you are not an insufferable pain in my ass. Like it or not I'm making you my responsibility."

"You don't know me, I am a complete stranger. I don't want any of what you are offering me."

"I, a member of the Espada, am offering you protection, and you're just going to refuse it?!" she exclaimed. She surged forward, forcefully pressing Starrk against one of the damp alley walls, gripping him by the collar of his shirt. "Now you're going to shut up and listen for two goddamn seconds while I explain some shit to you. I. Like. You. I don't want you to die. You play nice music. You feel responsibility toward your family. I occasionally get lost in your eyes when you're on stage. So now I'm going to be looking out for your pretty ass because you actually seem like a bit of a catch in this cesspool of a city, and might be someone I can actually tolerate.

So here's what we're going to do. We're going to go to Las Noches. I'm going to buy you a drink. Then we're going to talk and get to know each other before you're set, and during it your going to look up and maybe get a bit distracted in my eyes. Afterwards, I'll offer you another drink, and you'll decline it because you'll want to go home to your sister because you're a nice fucking person, and I'm going to think that's cute. Then I'll escort you home and we'll have a nice romantic moment. Now what do you say to that?!"

Starrk blinked in surprise and sputtered out, "T-that… actually sounds nice."

"Good. Now," she said as she stepped back and released him from her grip. "Let's get going. I'd hate for you to be late because of me," she said as she extended his hand toward him. Starrk put his guitar on his back by its case's strap, grabbed his amp's hand truck, and took her hand.

"You know, you have a very roundabout way of asking a guy out."

"Shut up, you'll think this was all endearing by the end of the night," she said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and started walking down the street toward the bar.

* * *

 **Just a quick one shot. Sorry if it was a tad out of character. Hope y'all enjoyed it.**


End file.
